Seth Romsa

As many of you know, outside of baseball, winter holds some of the longest seasons at both the college and high school levels.

There were many successes both at the high school and collegiate level, particularly in wrestling.

The Panther boys won their first state title in 10 years, 11 athletes placed and the Panthers had an individual champion in Doug Bettger.

The Trapper men earned four All-American honors and finished seventh at nationals, while the girls’ wrestling program continues to grow and improve with two finalists this season and three total medalists.

All of those programs had a strong season, have bright futures and represented the schools well, continuing to grow my appreciation for the sport of wrestling with each passing year.

The basketball teams both made it to the state tournament once again, but unfortunately came up short of trophies this year.

Both of those teams continue to have more talent coming into the program, and should continue to be competitive in the years to come.

The Northwest College basketball teams each found successes in their own rights, as the Trapper men made it to the Region IX quarterfinal game once again before stumbling to Western Nebraska and the Northwest College women earned a home play-in game but fell in a thrilling series of overtimes against Eastern Wyoming.

Both teams have their coaches at the helm for the future with Cody Helenbolt officially confirmed as the women’s coach, as those teams will hope to make deeper postseason runs in the near future.

High school swimming performed well and made it into the top five at the final edition of the state meet in the Gillette pool, as they will return a few of their top athletes next year as they hope to continue their rebuild and advance towards a trophy at the state meet.

Indoor track continues to serve as a good springboard for the spring season, as several of those athletes put up strong performances and broke school records throughout the third season of the team and already have a leg up on the competition heading outdoors.

Once again this year the winter season sprung its trap on me, as things were going smoothly and quickly through the end of January before February hit and the final month of the season dragged along to the finish line.

This year was not as painful in the sense of the weather since we thankfully did not have as many cold spells or as much snow barring that one storm, but once again the seasons that lasted from November until early March took a lot out of me.

Thankfully the weather thus far in March has allowed me to get outside and get rejuvenated alongside the spring sports, which will bring plenty of excitement for Panther athletics.

The girls’ soccer team is in pursuit of its first state title in school history and has the talent to do it, and I am excited to follow that team along in its journey towards that goal.

Both the boys’ and girls’ track teams will have a fair share of experienced competitors that will be hoping to make a lasting impact on the program, looking for one last hurrah before they head on to the next level.

However, both of those teams also have young competitors who have shown great promise heading into either their second year of school or coming into the program as freshmen. The incoming class of freshmen have significant talent that could help impact the next four years of the track program.

The boys’ soccer team also will be looking forward to a season with some talent throughout the lineup, as they will be eyeing another trip to the state tournament while developing that talent in the midfield and forward lines alongside a returning defense that brings experience.

The soccer teams will open up the season at home on Friday, while track heads to Burlington on Friday before hosting the LA Kohnke on April 12 at Powell High School, so get out and support those Panther teams when you can, weather permitting.

Baseball is not quite to its first pitch of the season, but I have a feeling that despite graduating most of the team from two straight state championship teams the Pioneers will have the ability to still compete against the other top teams in the state as they aim for a third straight program title.

The Pioneers will head to Sheridan to start the season on April 5 and will play at home for the first time against the Billings Razorbacks on Saturday, April 12.

The warmer weather is starting to give people more freedom to get out and explore, so get out, have fun and support these spring teams.